The Write Queen Blog

Those who are close to me know that pursing my Master's in Arts Management is beneficial to my company and ideas. But I have tons of people who have been asking me, why not your MFA?

There are many reasons. First of all, there are many poets who don't go after it. They workshop instead, taking the expense of learning to craft poetry one smaller expense at a time. Second, I am thinking about my future and the future of others. One day I may stop being the artist and just be a supporter. I want to have a solid background for that.

Also, no one knows me! I get a degree in Creative Writing/Poetry and then what? No one pays attention enough for me to become a teacher, workshop facilitator, to talk on panels, or to be picked up and published somewhere big. I'm a little fish because I don't go for the norms in the poetry community. I'm shy and awkward and it takes someone special to see who I really am as a poet. I'm not in this to be known to anyone. I just truly love poetry. I'm not saying this to measure my ability or anything. I just know that if I am known for my poetry, let me do it my way, before there were schools and degrees.

Not to say that I don't want the MFA. While I probably wouldn't do what half of MFA candidates do with their degrees, I am curious about the courses. Luckily I am going to the same school I would have gotten my MFA from. Hopefully I make a friend or two with a poet when I "accidently" wander to their building and can get an inside scoop. I can always go into more debt and get an MFA after my MAM. And I will always write and read about the craft.